About TechRegs

This blog (http://techregs.org) was created to solicit feedback from Connecticut citizens, be they parents or teachers, on the absence of “Educational Technology” as a requirement in the new state regulations being considered for teacher preparation programs.

There has been a Statutory Requirement for an Educational Technology course since 1998:

Connecticut General Statute 10-145a(e)

On or after July 1, 1998, any candidate in a program of teacher preparation leading to professional certification shall complete a computer and other information technology skills component of such program, as applied to student learning and classroom instruction, communications and data management.

Without an Educational Technology requirement Education Technology proficiencies will be at best marginalized and most likely excluded from the curriculum of Teacher Prep students.

The Connecticut State Department of Education held sessions for “Public Comment” at locations throughout the state, and online from March 31, 2010 to April 30, 2010. There has been a general concern that these were perfunctory meetings, at best, and that the SDE listened to but did not act on the many criticisms raised at the sessions.

Unfortunately, most parents were unaware of this window of opportunity, and in fact, neither were most professors in teacher education–as this was the busy “end of semester” pre-graduation time of the year. Also, unless a university program is up for reaccreditation, dealing with the state regulations, when imposed, can be put off.

Further complicating the matter is the arcane location of the documents and comment areas on the Connecticut State Board of Education website: